themetallikid

I don't 'have' to do all my work in HX Edit, but I like the convenience of it, and my setup at home is much more convenient with using the laptop as lots of times I'm jamming via USB/Headphones while i'm tweaking things. so having to reach down to tweak things is a pain while holding a guitar and not hitting my forehead on the desk....lol. Most of the edits I do in HX Edit, are not the easiest to do on the Helix itself or aren't possible. if I copy one of my cores to a new song preset slot, a lot of times I have to rearrange or copy/paste snapshots which I can't do on the Helix itself. Now that I've completed my library for the current songs, it'll be easier to move one song and edit it than it is to move 94 presets....very time consuming using the joysticks/wheels to navigate back and forth between 2 different setlists and presets not in the same order. I do save each preset and from time to time if there are lots of edits in a preset, I will save it, change presets/reload preset and continue....as I've noticed some edits not sticking between snapshots when I get to too many. Again sorta lends itself to a rewriteable clipboard getting full. I agree, and I'm pretty skilled/quick to make on the fly adjustments with the on screen edits and such...the biggest stuff that I can't do would be more performance limiting rather than sound/preset limiting if that makes sense. I agree, I'm sure its a variety of smaller issues that added up are creating problems for some folks and not others. I bought the helix for the on board simplicity, sound quality and functionality. and I don't dispute that...the editor is a great additional tool. I very quickly lost taste for my Boss GT100 when it had the same bells and whistles when I bought it and found out after creating my first 30+ presets and then finding out that their editor has a corrupting preset issue that is undoable without a full system restore. yikes.....

Yeah trust me, I like the platform, I like what I've gotten out of the Helix. But its frustrating to put that much work into really building my presets and song presets from scratch the 'right' way (read: in a way that allows for efficient editing/updating should a new amp/effect come along). I ultimately was able to restore the issues following the steps I've followed before doing a 5 & 12 reset after backing up the Core/Master setlists and then again importing the song specific presets from the Master Library into a live setlist order. I didn't have any issues pre-2.82 (2.80, maybe) with copy/pasting between setlists. And in this recent scenario, knowing copying/pasting could be the culprit behind my previous woes...I tried a different approach, exporting all song presets from the Master Library and then going to the 'Dance' Setlist and importing them 1x1...it was when I got to the 37th song it freaked out and forced me to take the steps above.....again. My presets are fairly straight forward. I have rhythm/lead tones for most songs or maybe a bridge/pre-chorus whatever. My most complicated presets have 4 snapshots and that just turns different effects/amps on/off to follow the song sections as needed. Dual amp songs with variety of tones are brutal programmers, but I love doing it on the helix cause its so easy. Wanted D.O.A. by Bon Jovi is a great example, I have an intro clean (w/delay), clean/chorus for the verse, Rhythm (Marshall ballz) and a Lead preset (boosted Marshall Ballz, lol). My approach can be a bit tedious as I like consistency and believe a cover band should be consistent and sound 'right'. Its just my approach, but no one wants to hear 'my' take on the above mentioned song, they want to hear the song as it they remember it. Granted, i still sound like 'me' doing the songs and some people have grown to like my versions better, or so they say (could be the beers) but that just tells me my work has paid off on doing my parts (performing and programming) if no one noticed something standing out. after my reinstall/backup/restore process I did reboot cpu and change USB locations as well. But I think the issue is more HX Edit related. My hunch is that either in Windows or possibly Helix there is a clipboard that gets full or freaks out. Who knows.... The idea that I could have lost literally the last 3 months of work, again, and have to start over was very frustrating. Sorry for ranting and carrying on, lol. crisis averted for now...we'll see when I create our other 2 setlist versions.

I am 2 years into it, and its been 6 months at best without a problem of some sort. Sorry for the long post...but i'm upset/frustrated and feel like I've lost an amount of work i'm not sure I want to reinvest into. (I understand all the arguments for keeping it.....1-others arent having these issues, 2-create a trouble ticket L6 service is great, 3-I've really given the Helix/HX Edit multiple chances and WANT it to work, 4-I'm sure there are others...but i'm so frustrated right now I can't think straight) 1st issue, within 4 months of owning my LT the EXP pedal (both external Mission Engineering pedal(s) I had at purchase, as well as the onboard EXP pedal) refused to consistently read 0-100%. It would constantly read 0-9x%. So attaching a wah pedal to auto engage at 97% would never consistently turn off. EVEN WORSE....having a pitch/whammy and having it reload the preset at 93%, and not be able to rock the pedal to 100%....thus having to change song specific presets in the middle of a song (Crazy Train) is a pain and not tolerable during a gig for a gig ready unit. I reached out to L6 Service and after several troubleshooting (ahem, reminders to re-read my response to them) they finally sent me a RTA and replaced my LT with a brand new unit. 2nd issue, within a month of receiving the replacement LT....I again started getting the same 0-9x% issue using the onboard EXP only. At this point I offered to pay the difference and upgrade to the full Helix. L6 was great and swapped my LT for the full Helix at no cost to me. I have had 0 issues with the EXP pedal and its been great on this issue. However, its been roughly almost a year and I have been dealing with Preset/Setlist/Library issues of some sort off and on. Most recently dealing with corrupt preset slots. Reaching out to L6, their only solution is to have me send my Helix into them. Having 8 shows in Novemeber, and December as well...doesnt allow me the time to do so. I managed to find a thread with a solution posted...that worked for me. Basically doing a reset, reinstalling HX Edit and then restoring your backup presets that worked fine. This has worked well the past 3 months or so. I have been working meticulously recreating my core basic tones, acoustic solo/vocal preset and then tweaking my core presets to balance/match my 3 guitars. Ultimately gigging with those presets and being 95% happy with my core tones for the first time in a long time that I can remember. I decided to implement my final piece of the puzzle. I do not have the budget for new pickups or guitars or ultimately a variax....so going the cheap route I purchased the Sigma Guitar IR's and they give me enough flavor for live work and live feel I'll be happy. So i've been implementing those IR's and using my core tones to create 94 (yes 94) song specific presets. Some as intricate as using a different guitar IR for each of the 4 possible snapshots. Needless to say, this was to be the final piece of my live puzzle. Thus going forward I'd be able to make minor 'fixes' or add new songs with a well oiled preset creating process with tones I'm happy with at the core....add the right guitar tone, drop in the song specific effects/snapshots and i'm gig ready. I have the first gig with my song specific presets coming up this weekend and I tried to copy/paste from Setlist 2 (Master Song Library 1) into Setlist 4 (TE Dance). I copy/paste song 1....great! I copy/paste song 2....and I get the unable to read information error. I immediately think....ok....not an issue. I'll follow the steps as always and reinstall HX Edit, reboot the helix, reconnect USB cable...continue on my merry way. WRONG!! I try this process 2-3 times and I get no where. Great.....I then take the time to export all 94 of my song specific presets. First 1 at a time, then a couple...then the remaining 50 or so....all works fine. I pull up Setlist 4 (TE Dance) to start importing 1 by 1 the exported preset files in setlist order....I get to song 37 and it saves, but the name immediately disappears. No Error, no visual cue that something is wrong...just no name in the preset library list. Im watching tv as I do this and I think that I must have just not completed the steps, so I repeat the Export>grab preset....and it now grabs the next handful of presets and jumbles the names. I go through my reinstall process of HX Edit and such...and i'm already worried as it pulls up the 37th preset with a blank template/name. I repeat the process of importing....no dice. I then restart it all again...I try to copy/paste from Setlist 2 (master song library) and I get the same unreadable error (I forget the exact description). So now after all my hard work, I am back to square one again, having to reset my Helix, backup my core/master library setlists and try and reinstall the song specific presets into their slots for saturday. Why the long rant...I'm just about done....I even tried resaving into the 37th preset slot on the device itself and those slots are now corrupted. Sorry for the long post, but I needed to vent and its worth noting that I dont recall seeing these preset/corrupt/hx edit preset issue threads much before the Helix realignment in the coding. I get what they are trying to do, but getting them to acknowledge HX edit or USB connections at some point are causing this seems to be impossible. Here I go again on my own....

Yes that sounds like a global setting issue then. There is one, I forget the name and dont have my helix near me....but there is a setting that tells the helix if you want it to recall the 'saved' position of the pedal or the current position I believe. I hope i'm not wrong.... I know that I also have pitch/whammy blocks set to autoengage the same as my wah's....and I had an issue with my original LT where it wouldnt go to 100% fully (it would only reach anything above 93% but it was random, so setting the 'off' % was impossible).....anyway, switching snapshots would not turn that pitch block off...I had to swap presets (not snapshots) So I'm pretty sure there is a global setting for it. I'd check under the EXP menu in the globals.

there are a couple things you have going on that are defeating your approach. The wah toe switch is set by default to swap between EXP 1 and EXP 2...so essentially right now you are using EXP 2 as an 'off' button. That is fine...but then defeats any use of Exp 2 for anything else. 1st question: How do you want to engage/disengage the wah block? I myself have it auto engaged by having toe down 100% set to off, and it engages at 97%. 2nd question: based on your response with #1, there are a variety of ways to 'save' this to recall correctly..but in your scenario...your defeating the programming that is there. Example: If you want to set it up to auto engage, then you need to delete the command that uses the toe switch to disengage the wah block (switch to the other EXP) and save the preset with the expression pedal where you want it recalled. Also need to turn on the globabl setting that allws you to recall the saved position instead of the 'current' position....forget what this is called exactly. If you want a snapshot to engage the wah (no exp button or auto engage like I have) then you'll need to have the wah block engaged in that snapshot, off in other snapshots, resave the preset and make sure that the setting about recalling snapshots matches what your trying to do with the wah block as well. Confusing without knowing how you want to approach wah block use.

I will try the 75% thing as well.... One thing I found to give the Wah's a little more bite/growl is to add the kinky boost *or your flavor boost) in front of it and have it activate when the wah activates as well. I noticed that several of the signature wah's have a boost circuit involved and tried this one time. I think it works well for some sounds, but not all. Just something else to add to play with.

i agree fully with what your saying regarding analog vs analog comparisons...and to further that, trying to match 'my' TS808' to the version modeled in the Helix and whatever one they modeled...your absolutely right. My 1:1 comment was more of a dig/comment on the Axe FX side. I dont know if the II or the III they came out with are more 1:1 matches regarding knob response/ranges, but in the original versions the amps/pedals often had a wider range of effect to allow you to do things not possible in the analog world. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but it made it harder at times to mimic rigs and setups you wanted to emulate or recreate. If they had a TS808 with the gain on 9:00, tone at 2:00 and output on 3:00....its easy to assume maybe the pedal version is set to 3/7/8.5 respectively??? But then when translating that to the Axe Fx because 1-10 on the analog pedal really was 3-7, it made it harder to guess where the 3/7/8.5 really was, referring to my example. Thats all. I'd rather have the TS808 match the version they modeled 1:1 (or closely depending on model) and if they want a super TS808, then do something like they did with the Brit 2204 model.

yes you can, I dont have my helix in front to know the exact steps....BUT I do this all the time for my presets w/wah. HX Edit Steps Step 1: Add the Wah (choose model and such. Step 2: right click on the position parameter and choose Exp 1 (I think it defaults to Exp 2, if not, ignore this step) Step 3: click on the other tab on the right, I forget the name. Its above the higher end of the parameter sliders, it allows you to assign things to controllers Step 4: in the 2nd drop down, choose 'Bypass' Step 5: on the first parameter, you will lower/raise it to whatever % travel you want the pedal to move to trigger the bypass state of the effect. For me, I have it opposite how you have it. I like it 'toe down' as off, so I set mine to 97%. This allows 98-100% as my 'off' range and when it comes to 97% or lower it turns on the effect. I also lower the delay parameter to 0ms for this action as when its off I want it off. Some people like to have a small delay in case they travel/wander into the 'off' range it doesnt shut off automatically. This should take care of it. You should be able to do the same thing on the Helix itself, to get to the Controller Assigns menus I think you just have to hold down the parameter's knob for a second or two to get it to bring up that menu. Could be wrong here though, I do 90% of my editing on HX Edit

That was pretty cool, great work. You answered my only question more towards the end. I could see the tone setting on the pedal but not on the Helix pedal. My only question was if the Helix version had a wider range on the tone knob (or others) if it was a true 1:1 ration between them or if the 0-10 range on the analog pedal was more like 1-8 on the Helix and the 8-10 range gave you 'extra' being that its digital and it can be manipulated.

Yeah I know there never is a wrong/right approach to this stuff. I was never a pedalboard guy so I have no 'real world' experience with analog signal chains. What you describe here makes sense and I'll play around with movements. I always put it first cause I figured you'd want the compressor to do its thing with the cleanest/direct input signal, but when I think of your approach/explanation I get how country guys get that little bit or dirt on the snaps they get. That very well could just be the missing piece for me to dial in some of the things that are lacking something. Thank you for that! I agree with this approach, I really only have used comps for the sustain aspect and (recently) to get the country-ish snappy attack on the notes. I've never liked a 'squished' sound. Same here, I'm usually more of a medium/higher gain player. Only really use compression on clean/gritty/breakup type sounds. My Boss GT units always had a nice compression preset that was labeled 'Sustain'. I would add that to my cleans and sometimes my leads and didn't need to tweak much to get it to do what it should. Just turn up the sustain parameter a few notches and you could hold a note forever. On a compressor note, there was a guy that did something on his AXE FX Ultra when I had mine where he used a compressor with some sort of extreme settings and it worked really well as a 'clean boost' for leads. Better than the actual clean boost drive pedal. Not sure on the attack/release/ratio type settings, but I just remember the output was +20db or something you could adjust to taste based upon how much you wanted.

I love the Dimension, its my go to chorus sound. I usually turn SW1 on, turn the default SW4 off and set mix to 30% as a start, but maybe I am over doing it and its messing with the tone. I have a 'gritty' core tone that I"ve been trying to use. its more a clean/breakup sorta tone and at the core it sounds like its in the ballpark but when I try to polish it...I seem to drift further away rather than closer. Probably my lacking compressor skills more than not. Yeah I followed Sadites method with the LA Comp for awhile at my presets cause I liked how he stated that it glued it all together. However at some point I sorta liked the 'raw' sound like a true 'live' rig...and removed it from my presets. I'll try the LA Comp at the end of that preset to help smooth/retain what i'm looking for....your description makes sense with trying to achieve what I'm hearing. I have a few presets where I have added the Kinky/Deluxe/Red comps before any drives to help give me that attack/snap on the input...I just need to spend some better time with the level parameter cause a few of them its driving the amp too hard and losing that gritty/breakup tone for picking. Also with the Red comp, I noticed I like it better with mix to about 75%

Right, those were much my initial thoughts.... i'm not sure if the instructions were 'Helix' specific, just remember when I first tested it, some seemed much quieter than others and when I raised the IR block it seemed to exaggerate what the IR is doing to the sound. Update: I removed the Gain blocks and just used the IR output parameter at my NYE show and didn't notice anything being 'overcooked'....so i'll just attribute my previous experience as maybe an extra beer or two that night setting them up and hearing things differently for some reason. Still good info to know, but weird.

Ok, so I've always struggled to get a good clean/chorus sound to cut through for Summer of 69. I've used some 'gritty' presets that have a touch of breakup and don't sound quite right cause they aren't clean, and a few clean presets that just don't seem to hit the mark with the attack/sustain aspect. So during the prechorus I play a picking pattern around the Bm - A - D - G, and during the post chorus' I play the keyboard part where the D/A's have the picking pattern (keyboards). We do the song maybe a touch dirtier than the original, but I still need something to cut through with these parts. The gritty presets don't seem to have the clarity and the clean parts don't cut through. So I hear a tone like on Scorpions - No One Like You that clean picking part during the chorus and think something like that...maybe a touch more pick/note attack would work well. I've tried a few chorus settings, but I can't seem to get a good balance/mix of the effect. Maybe a parallel routing is preferred for this sound to blend dry/wet, instead of just the mix %? Compressor, I've been getting better at this effect, but still can't get something that gives me the sustain as well as the attack.

Right, initially that was my reaction when I dropped one of the single coil IR's in and my preset dropped. I then read on their site that they recommend leaving the IR block as is and adding a gain block to compensate. And after thinking about it it made sense, you don't compensate signal level with an EQ block that has cuts/boosts....and when I initially tried it, it had the same result. Exaggerated peaks/cuts on the frequencies involved. We'll see tonight...

I agree, it is a bit complicated the way I approach things. For consistency purposes though I have my basic tone presets, they are balanced volume wise, my lead boosts are where I want them as is. The IR's I'm speaking of are the 3Sigma Guitar IRs. So I can get a closer single coil/LP/Tele flavor in my sound (Variax is a want, but not an option currently for me). But the IR files vary greatly in ouput. On their website they instruct to us a separate gain block and adjust that instead of adjusting the IR blocks output. Which I assume would cause the same issues as boosting an EQ block (you further enhance/minimize any boost/cuts)...so that makes sense....but I have an 18db difference in the IR outputs (when I did a separate test to get the 'unity' number for that IR File. So to compensate, and not use the IR Output as instructed, I added a Gain Block, however the gain block only goes to +12, so that means the ones that are -18db to be unity are still 6db short signal wise. I just didn't know if there was a better approach to getting the level where I would like it to be for consistency purposes. Also if it mattered whether the gain block was pre or post of the IR block. I got an email back from them and they sorta went against their instructional recommendation and said there was no harm in raising the IR output parameter. Tonight I try that approach and see...didn't seem to sound bad at home.... I'm splitting atoms that only I will probably notice...and I know that. I enjoy my madness though. lol

Here is my take on reliability. When I had my AXE FX Ultra, I had a Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro as my foot controller, and 2 Ernie Ball Expression/Volume Pedals as I like the extra travel they have and the grippy surface on them. Have you ever looked inside an Ernie Ball Pedal? Its literally a piece of string attached to the heel/toe of the pedal that is wound around the potentiometer. There are known issues with that string getting worn and breaking and everything else. People still use the pedal for the reasons they like, knowing its an issue they will/might have to deal with. The tradeoffs are justified in their heads. In my situation, mine didn't break, but the string was not gripping the pot inside as it should and thus not rotating it properly....Imagine my displeasure when I got to the show and figured that out. At the time I used the Expression pedal to turn on my lead effect/sounds heel down = lead, toe down = rhythm. I had over 60+ presets designed this way...that now I had no access or control over rhythm/lead changes....granted this was before a big 4th of July summer bash in front of almost 1000 people. I had no choice but to do my solo's on my rhythm sound and deal with it. Come the next day I had two choice, buy another pedal and potentially have the same issue, or move on to a different pedal that maybe didn't 'feel' or react the same way I'd prefer. Ultimately I moved on cause the way I design my presets (at the time) could not allow for that situation again. In your case, you have 128 presets per setlist available, and 8 setlists (?) that's a lot of extra space to confine yourself into a physical jail of a single preset, and then complain about a very specific 'bug' when there is an easy workaround of copying/pasting that same preset into the slot next to it and every song just clearing the memory or whatever else is being done to prevent it from happening. The error you have is not a catastrophic error. It happens gradually, and when it happens you can easily change presets, on rhythm to the song and no one but yourself will know what happened. And if done correctly, you can make a super Rockstar pose/motion while you do so you look extra cool to the millions (and millions) of people listening to you. To me a catastrophic error worthy of your worry would be mid jam session/song it starts emitting a 60 cycle hum or some other buzzing that overpowers your guitar signal.....or, the helix just restarting on its own without anything triggering it, or effects being bypassed or turned on randomly when something else is supposed to be happening.....but these are not happening..... you have a minimal/slow volume decay...that can be easily remedied at the first sign of 'trouble' with a little pre-planning (copy/paste) and a simple foot stomp. I'm trying not to be harsh, but this thread seems to be about 25 responses longer than it needs to be.

I tried reaching out the IR company, and haven't not heard back in 4-5 days....so....just trying to apply some of my own logic and think/type outloud... The IR company states to not increase the IR block output if you need to match levels of input/output. GIven the nature of what this block is providing to me, and how I like to keep my Amp Blocks consistent with settings for volume and such......I would like to follow their instructions....however... There are some pretty wide variances between the 15-20 or so that I am using or have selected as potential uses in my presets. I've tried 'normalizing' them, as well as increasing the IR block output level and it just does the same as raising the output block on an EQ, its not a true clean level increase (it is, but its increasing the effect of the IR/EQ being used). So I tried going the route that they suggested and using a 'gain' block to help match levels. However, here are a few questions I have....maybe you can provide answers or guide me better.... 1) the IR's load at -18db on the output block. Some of the IR's I can leave at -18db and they match my bypassed signal level (done with a preset with no other blocks and comparing dry signal to IR/-18db volume) and I think the highest is at 0db on the output level to match the bypassed signal. So with using a gain block, I have noted in a spreadsheet what each specific IR I may use needs to be boosted to match my signal strength. That way I'm getting the IR benefits consistently without compromising the rest of my sound in the preset. With that said.....is there a better way than using a gain block to help get the quieter ones back up to where I need them? The gain block only goes up to +12db so the ones that are 'fine' at -18db are still 6db quieter signal wise. I could compensate with a 2nd gain block potentially, but that's now 3 block spaces I need instead of just the 1. 2) Does it matter if the gain block is pre/post in relation to the IR Block? in my head both make sense....when I tested it I can't hear a difference... I get that some of what the IR's are providing are a lower output signal and all, but Im more after the tonal characteristics not the 'gain structuring' characteristics that a lower vs higher output pickup would provide. Sorry, bored at work rambling/musings/questions

I read that too, haven't tried it. Seems weird you'd want your dry signal coming through at all with it. Unless i'm understanding what happens with that adjustment?

I agree with your thought process. I worry too. Thankfully I dont get so far away from home that I couldnt run and get my GT100 as a backup within a decent amount of time. But I get your stance.

Yeah the editing of the actual preset wasnt bad...the only thing that I run into when creating the song specific (snapshot versions) is I have a few Dual Amp Templates where I have a Rhythm 1/Lead 1/Rhythm 2/Lead 2 for 4 snapshots. I dont always need those 4 sounds out of a Dual Amp preset so I'll have to copy/paste a snapshot from one slot to another....I could not find where to do that in the menus.

Search for one of my threads/posts...there is a thread with a set of steps to follow without having to do a Factory Reset. I went through all the steps and was about to Factory Reset and tried the steps I'm referring to and it resolved that issue. I had a thread titled Corrupted Presets, but the steps I believe were listed in another thread I was commenting on. But I may have posted them in my thread.

no piece of gear is flawless, nor is bug free. I had the original AXE FX Ultra when it came out and as greatly revered as that piece of gear was when it was released and the years after, it had its flaws as well. There were limitations that I ran into, a few things that didnt work as 'I' thought they should, but it never wavered my ability to use it, and if it did there were simple work arounds that I had to incorporate. That seems prevalent in a lot of life scenarios in general. I get where your coming from...in the subject of product confidence. However, this seems to be a highly focused scenario, that has had several options offered as solutions/workarounds....including somewhat of an acknowledgement from L6 regarding your experience. Its a minor (very) inconveninence to have to swap presets 1>2>1 or whatever pattern you would choose and literally done in under a second.

Are the songs your playing longer than the minimum time that this issue shows up? If its shown up as early as 30 minutes, do you play 30+ minute jams (Freebird anyone?) If not, why can't you simply duplicate the preset into a 2nd (or even 3rd) preset (simply copy and paste) and then when your song is done or even during the song when it wont be as audibly noticeable, switch to the duplicate preset. If it is a form of memory leak like suggested...or some other issue, that would reset whatever timing is causing the breakdown. I agree this is like not driving your car cause the blinker doesn't work. Whatever the desired end result is/was of this thread/issue seems to have been lost....as there are multiple ways suggested it seems to work around the issue, until it is acknowledged/solved as a bug.

If the OP did use HX edit, 'this' could be the culprit. Inviting something damaging to the preset somewhere inside the 1's and 0's. I have just recently had an issue where hX edit would not copy/paste something for me, restarted the Helix, tried again...same result using HX Edit....restarted the Helix, did the same action on the Helix itself....worked fine. Even with fresh installs of HX Edit

i had similar issues with some presets, had to do a special reset, reinstall HX Edit and its been fixed since then. There is another thread with the exact steps listed....